Gadgets & Technology
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Recommend your widescreen/flatscreen tv
DH's mom has offered to pay the majority of a new tv for us for christmas. DH has found a Samsung 55 inch plasma that he is drooling over. I am not sure which one he is looking at but it is super thin and "top of the line for what we want." (his words, not mine....)
So tell me about your widescreen or flatscreen tv. What size? Pros and Cons. How much did you pay (if you want to share that)? How old is your tv/
Re: Recommend your widescreen/flatscreen tv
I recommend getting an LCD instead of a plasma display. Mine is a Sony Bravia 46" 1080p 120 Mhz. The 120 Mhz is clearer and crisper (refresh rate I think). I got it last year on black friday.
We were debating getting a 52", but went with the smaller, and we regretted it afterwards. If you can wait until black friday, maybe you can get a good deal then?
We have a 47" Philips LCD 1080p. I can't remember all the specs right now (and I'm out of town), but it's great! We' have it for almost 2 years now and no problems. We got it at Costco for something like $1700. It's the perfect size for our sort of small living room. We briefly thought about getting a 52" but that would have been too big. We also got a wall mount to raise the TV up a bit.
The PP has a good point about standard definition. All the channels we watch are in HD, thankfully, but we also have a special cable package to get those channels. So if that sort of package isn't in your budget, then you'll want to make sure the standard definition doesn't look too awful.
I also agree to go with LCD over Plasma. However, if your husband truly wants "top of the line" and super thin, check out the new LED's. They are $$$ though!
We have a 52" Samsung LCD (LN52A650 to be exact) purchased May 08. It's a 120hz model, but 240hz models are out now too. Some people say they can't tell a difference, but my husband could so we went for it. We both simply loved this tv in the store and caught it on a good Memorial Day sale. Soon after, Consumer Reports made it their top pick for last year.
Samsung should start paying me a commission, as I've sold 5 tv's for them already. First of all, the Samsungs are great in quality. Here are a few tips that I've shared with folks to help them pick which model is best for them:
First, go to a store just to see the difference in the refresh rates. See if you can tell the difference in the 120hz or 240hz from the standard models. If you can, is the difference significant? What you're looking for is a smoothness in the motion. Some people don't like it, but some do. Knowing this will help you pick out which model you like.
Figure out what size you want. If you're wall-mounting, I recommend getting some cloth or even a trash bag and cutting it to the dimensions of the tvs and just see how you like it taped to the wall.
Simply put, I usually tell my friends to look for something that matches their needs in inputs and price point that is Series 5 or better. Samsung uses a "Series" to denote the line of tv's. The model numbers are structured as LN + Size of tv + a letter + 3 digits and you can ignore anything after that. For better quality, you want those last 3 digits to be 500 +. If you want the 120hz, then you want 600+, and 240hz is 700+. Generally, the higher the series (5, 6, 7, etc.), the more features you get.
Sorry for the novel! As you can tell, I've done this a few times...
We bought a 42 inch Panasonic 1080p plasma about two years ago and love it. It's got an anti-glare screen, which comes in handy since our soon to be former home has a giant window without a covering that gives a small glare off the tv. When we got it at Best Buy, you could see a huge difference in glare between that tv and others.
Also, someone mentioned cable packages and it's usually less than $10 a month to add the HD service on and the HD portion usually is lower if you have HD with a DVR.
Echoing all the pp with going LCD.We have a 47" LG LH40 LCD. It's a full 1080p, 120Hz and it also has energy saving technology, if being green is important to you.
Definitely LCD.
We have a 40" Sony Bravia 1080p (there's only one possible place in our living room for a TV and that's all that would fit, or else we would have gotten larger). We paid $1,000 for it in January of this year.
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This is the same one I got and Love it.
Do you have a Sony factory store nearby? I got my 32" Sony Bravia LCD 1080p 120Hz for $100 less than what Best Buy was selling for the same model. H was pricing larger screens and they were much cheaper also.
I vote for LCD too.
Sumsung does not make a 55" plasma they make a 55" LCD.
If you room is really bright a LCD would be better if your room has controlled lighting a plasma would be better. This is what my husband does so if you have any specific q's page me.
Unless your tv is going to be in the basement (or another room that doesn't get much light) then you should probably go with an LCD.
We have a Samsung either 40 or 42 inch LCD. That's in my office/music/whatever room.
And then we have a HD projector in our living room.
"It's a child, not a cheeto" Thanks mmariluh!
"Ew. I've read all of two posts from you, and you stink like rotting garbage."
We recently went through 3 flat screen TV's to find the right one. We weren't sure about the plasma vs. LCD debate either so we started with a 58" Samsung plasma - amazing picture but you could hear the TV buzzing when on low volume.
We returned it and got a 55" Samsung LCD - no buzzing but the picture was not crisp and clean like the plasma and the motion looked weird. We tried to live with it for a little but couldn't stand having paid so much for picture that was such poor quality compared to the plasma (think seeing the beads of dew on grass vs. just seeing a field of grass)
We returned it and landed on a 54" Panasonic plasma. Picture is much more detailed than the LCD and no buzzing.
As someone who has tried both within a two month time frame I highly recommend plasma over LCD if you're looking for picture quality. LCD is brighter but that level of brightness is really not necessary and you can adjust the pictures settings on the plasma (it's not a "dark" picture by any means)
We shopped at Costco and Best Buy, you can always try it out and if you don't like it, return it within the time frame and find a better one for you Tip: keep the box, all packaging and accessories at least until the return limitation has expired.
Good luck and have fun.
Since Costco was mentioned, I'll put in a quick plug for them. Our Aquos got zapped by lightning (we surge protector everything, but when we moved, we forgot to plug the cable lines in and the surge traveled through the cable lines, through the HDMI).
Anywho, we were out of Costco's (generous) 90-day return policy -- and outside the manufacturer's 1 year warranty (which doesn't cover this anyway, fwiw).
Costco's Concierge Service got a Sharp repair person out and replaced our HDMI board. No cost.
Win!
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We have this 40 inch Samsung LCD & love it.
Ours is mounted on our floor to ceiling stone fireplace so were were limited on the size we could get.